The UK government has temporarily deferred the export licence for the bronze statuette “Seated Nymph”, attributed to Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico. Museums and galleries have until 17 December 2026 inclusive to show interest in buying it at the recommended price of £4.6 million, plus VAT of £166,666.67.

The work, about 19.5 centimetres tall (22 cm with the base), has mercury-gilded hair and drapery and silver-inlaid eyes. It is dated around 1503. The reviewing committee on the export of works of art judged it important enough to heritage to ask for a pause, not a confiscation.

The bar gives time for a British buyer, usually a public institution, to match the price and keep the piece on view. If no valid offer appears, a licence may be granted after the deferral periods expire. The government has not said it will buy the sculpture itself.

After the first deferral the owner has a short window to consider offers; a second period of five months starts only if an option agreement is signed. The procedural detail sits in the GOV.UK notice, not in a press summary.

The piece is rare outside museums. That does not guarantee the money will be raised. The outcome depends on museums, foundations and donors.

This article describes a temporary export bar, not nationalisation and not a completed sale.

The picture illustrates Renaissance sculpture of this kind, or a museum setting, not a customs scene.

Image: British Museum, north-east façade / Wikimedia Commons (Ham, CC BY-SA 3.0). A museum, not the sculpture under the export bar. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: GOV.UK — UK galleries urged to save rare Renaissance masterpiece; Arts Council England — Export controls.